by Peter HUTCHISON Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump created a “false expectation” of his imminent arrest, the New York prosecutor investigating the ex-president over hush money said Thursday, as tensions build over a possible indictment. The comments come amid uncertainty over when a grand jury hearing the case will take a vote on charging Trump, a historic move that would inflame the 2024 election campaign in which the 76-year-old Republican […]
International
Zelensky pleads for jets, missiles, after visit to frontline
by Victoria Lukovenko Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday told European leaders that “delays” sending fighter jets and long-range missiles could extend the war, after he paid a visit to the frontline southern region of Kherson. On the train home from the war-ravaged areas, Zelensky gave an emotional account of what he had seen as he addressed a summit of his EU counterparts gathered in Brussels via video link, […]
Violence flares as French protesters vent fury at Macron reform
Protesters clashed with French security forces Thursday in the most serious violence yet of a three-month revolt against President Emmanuel Macron’s hugely controversial pension reform. Almost 150 police were injured and scores of protesters arrested nationwide, the government said, as a day of protests descended into chaos in several cities including Paris, where protesters lit fires in the historic centre of the city. The uproar over the imposition of the reform — which the […]
North Korea tests new underwater nuclear attack ‘drone’: KCNA
North Korea has tested an underwater nuclear attack drone designed to unleash a “radioactive tsunami” that would destroy enemy naval vessels and ports, state media said Friday. During the drills from Tuesday through Thursday the North Korean military deployed and test-fired this new weapon system, the mission of which is to set off such a “super-scale” destructive wave, the KCNA news agency said. “This nuclear underwater attack drone can be deployed at any coast […]
New ‘glass-like’ orchid species discovered in Japan
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Thursday 3/23/2023 A new species of orchid with delicate, glass-like blooms has been discovered by Japanese scientists, who found the pink and white plant hiding in plain sight. Despite its presence in Japan’s parks and gardens, it took researchers at Kobe University a decade to confirm that the plant — dubbed the “Spiranthes hachijoensis” — was a previously unknown species. “It was a surprise to discover a new species of spiranthes, […]
Body found by vehicle of US teen on run after shooting two school staff: police
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | A student who shot two school staff and then fled was being sought by police in Colorado on Wednesday, in the latest instance of gun violence to rock US education. The suspect, named as 17-year-old Austin Lyle, was being patted down as part of a search for weapons when he produced a handgun and began shooting, said police in the western US state. Denver Police Department said late […]
Thai police shoot gunman dead after 15-hour standoff
Thai police shot dead a gunman who killed three people and wounded three others, a senior officer said Thursday, after a 15-hour standoff. The shooter started firing in Phetchaburi, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Bangkok, at around 3 pm (0800 GMT) on Wednesday, before police surrounded a house he was in. The standoff ended early Thursday when armed police stormed the building and killed the gunman, who has not been named but was […]
People smugglers use TikTok to promote their services
by Valentin Diaz Agence France Presse Mexico City, Mexico (AFP) A photo posted to TikTok shows a group of people dressed in camouflage, hoping to blend into the shadowy vegetation dotting the nighttime landscape of the Mexican desert. The picture was not uploaded by social media influencers on an adventurous vacation — it’s an advertisement by people smugglers. Technology-savvy criminals using the popular video-sharing app are posing a growing challenge to Mexican and US authorities […]
Chinese military says ‘warned’ US warship to leave S. China Sea
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The Chinese military said it had tracked a US warship in the South China Sea on Thursday and “warned it to leave” waters claimed by Beijing. China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea — a strategic waterway through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually — despite an international court ruling that the assertion has no legal basis. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have overlapping […]
Brazil’s Lula irks foreign oil companies with new tax
by Marcelo SILVA DE SOUSA Agence France-Presse BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has not even been in power for 100 days but has already provoked the wrath of foreign oil companies with the creation of a new tax on crude exports. Multinationals Repsol, TotalEnergies, Shell, Equinor and Galp have petitioned a federal court to suspend the 9.2 percent tax due to run from March to July and announced by […]
Blinken dismisses China’s ‘marriage of convenience’ with Russia
by Shaun TANDON Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday brushed off China’s diplomacy with Russia as a “marriage of convenience,” and said Beijing had not yet provided military aid to “junior partner” Moscow to fight in Ukraine. President Xi Jinping on Wednesday closed a trip to Moscow that was closely watched in Washington, which considers China the greatest long-term adversary of the United States — and […]
Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ at 40: Battle of the satellites
Washington, United States (AFP) by Paul HANDLEY Forty years after US president Ronald Reagan stunned the nation and world with his “Star Wars” plan to take nuclear competition into outer space, a new battle of the satellites has emerged in the stratosphere. Largely because it far outpaced technology at the time, very little became of Reagan’s March 23, 1983 declaration that the United States would head to space to seek absolute supremacy in the Cold […]





